3 Skype Mobile Phone and GPhone Updates

3, Britain's fifth-largest mobile service operator, has released a new phone with built-in Skype capability.  British phone users will be able to conduct Skype calls to other users through a dedicated button on the phone's  interface.  With this new model 3 is probably hoping to reverse its steady loss of customers over the past few years, and with an estimated 2.5 million Skype users in the UK, they just might be able to lure some of them over with the mobile VOIP option.

Supposedly the Skype service will be free to users under contract or those who fill up their prepay account regularly.  However, the SkypeOut option (placing calls at low prices to non-Skype users) will not be offered apparently, for the obvious competitive reasons.  According to the Guardian, the phone will reportedly also feature a 2MB and MP3 player with video playback as well.

TechCrunch reports that Skype has an estimated 246 million users worldwide, although only about 70 million of them are believed to be active users.  And many of the active users are not paying users, as regular Skype service is free.

In more news, Google has been talking to US wireless carriers Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon (as well as Vodafone internationally) about its plans for the GPhone.  The way things are shaping out, it looks like Google doesn't want to create one special GPhone, but rather branch out and let the manufacturers use its applications for a diverse selection of devices.  Google already has an extensive list of web-based applications, such as Google Maps and YouTube, and with the recent addition of a word-processing and an excel-like application, the Internet giant has put itself more in a position to battle Windows Mobile than Apple's iPhone.

Altogether, it looks like the mobile industry is headed for some serious changes during the next year or so, with VOIP systems like Skype starting to get a foothold in the market, and Google looking to make mobile phones an open platform for developers to build lots of applications on top of.

Initially cell phones were just taking over the conventional photography. The availability of portable printers made it even easier. However, now it is being used to play the car audio as well, and this is not just the ringtones, but full songs, and hundreds of them.

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